The Gift
by Tomy
Summary: During Christmas - Do Miracles Really Happen? One just might have!


Knight Rider copyright Glen A Larson

Thanks and love to Vespurrs for the beta! Man I've missed writing! Happy HoHo!

The Gift

By tomy

December 24th – Christmas Eve, warm, sunny - some things he just couldn't get used to. Sure the streets were busy with last minute shoppers, the usual hustle and bustle, but there was no snow, no chilly temps, no coats, gloves, Santa hats… Just jeans, tees and sunshine.

In the midst of the case loads of investigations and general duties, the Foundation's Christmas party had landed tonight. The big Fundraiser, slash, thank you, slash, Christmas event. And he and Kitt were the main attractions – again…..

Granted this time both of them had managed to come home with nothing more than wear and tear, with Kitt simply covered in road grime. These red tape missions were a strain on his patience – he HATED bureaucratic bull. But Kitt was a master – insightful, cleaver, logical. They were becoming quite the symbiotic team. Something two years ago he would never have imagined.

They had to get back soon – Kitt needed to be checked over, cleaned and waxed so the black shell gleamed. He, himself needed a shower and a shave before putting on the hated penguin suit.

But there was one last errand to run on their way back to the Foundation – his yearly transfer to his mother, another mysterious event where magically the mortgage would be covered for the year. Michael was discovering there was nothing the Foundation could not do when it came to the kindness of helping others. Devon had only stated that they must conduct this anonymously – with no trace of the Foundation, Michael, nor Kitt's transaction. Michael didn't argue and Kitt took only minutes to circumvent the systems to ensure their secrecy. It touched him and gave him some piece of mind to know his mother was okay. They had snuck in a few other transfers when Kitt had notified him of his mother's need. Devon turned a blind eye, Bonnie hugged him and boosted Kitt's abilities. That was all the permission he needed.

Michael parked in front of the bank and after the long drive, stretched his back; arching over the rear of the seat, his hands following the line of the t-tops, to the soft interior, to the hatchback window.

Looking somewhat forlorn, he reached for the door handle. "I'm just gonna pop into the bank, maybe grab a drink and then we'll go home. Okay, Kitt?"

Sounding just as tired and homesick Kitt responded with a small, agreeable noise. Michael smirked in complete understanding.

Looking down, he wrapped his fingers around the almost worn door handle.

"Michael! Wait!" Kitt's call coincided with the door's automatically locking down, the engine firing as the car immediately backed up with great speed.

The roar of the bank exploding, the shrapnel of the building slamming against the car caused Michael to duck violently inside the car, his eyes closing, his hands coming up in an unconscious reaction of self-protection.

When the car finally stopped rocking from the force, Michael cautiously looked up, sitting up slowly as his eyes surveyed the damage.

The building was a flame, the front blown clear out - everything in its trajectory also exploded, or damaged almost beyond recognition.

It sunk in - if he had been a few seconds quicker in exiting the car, there would have been nothing Kitt could have done - other than watch as his body was torn apart before his scanner.

Michael gulped, silently thanking his guardian Angel for the hundredth time.

Then his brain began to function.

"Is there anyone inside, Kitt?"

He could hear Kitt scanning. "Near the rear of the building, I'm detecting faint, but definite life sign."

"Can we get in there?"

"There's not enough room for me..." Kitt left out the rest, hoping Michael would miss it.

"But I can get in?"

Damn it! He knew his partner was smarter than that. "I believe so."

"Anymore devices?"

Again, Kitt took a few precious seconds to scan the area. "Nothing I can detect."

Michael threw the car into drive, speeding towards what was once the bank entrance. The car taking the brunt of abuse as they sped over debris. Michael refused to look too closely at what they were driving over...

As soon as the car reached its limit, Michael jumped out. "Try to keep the entrance clear!" With that, Kitt watched in abject horror as his partner disappeared into the burning and crumbling building.

"Where'm I going, Kitt?" Michael's gruff voice came over the comlink.

Pulling up the schematics, Kitt then scanned the building running a comparison. There was no use in having the original schematics - there was very little left of that building. Scanning as quickly as he could, then using Michael's comlink input, he guided his partner though the corpse of a building towards the lucky survivors.

Emergency crews were pulling up as Kitt sprayed more CO2 in an attempt to keep the entrance clear for Michael's return.

"Kitt?!" One of the police officers they commonly worked with appeared at his driver's side window. "Is Michael inside?"

"He's in the process of rescuing a survivor." Even the AI could hear the stress in his own voice.

"How many?"

"Only one, four more have already exited the rear of the building."

"How much further?" Michael's voice sounded through the interior of the car.

"Approximately 10 feet forward then turn to your right. You'll have to maneuver over fallen shrapnel. Rescue crews have arrived and are heading in your direction." Kitt had spoken with his usual tone, trying not to show the deep set concern for his partner. The building was not stable in its current state, yet, Michael, as usual, jumped into the midst of the mess.

Walking through the rubble was not an easy task. He literally could not see his hand in front of his face. It didn't smell like smoke, it was more like concrete dust. Hard to breathe, not as toxic. But just as opaque. One foot at a time he moved forward – he could hear someone muttering for help.

Michael followed the sound, slowly, carefully until he reached what he thought was the rear section of the building, possibly what once was an office area. There was glass all over the floor, partitions scattered that he tripped over time and time again.

He heard the soft cry again, altering his direction, he called out, trying to get the person to make more noise so he could zero in on them. "Kitt?" ….. nothing but static came across the comlink, then silence.

"Shit," he muttered to himself before calling out again to whomever he was trying to find.

The building was making eerie noises, like something you'd hear in a bad horror movie before things went to Hell. It wasn't giving Michael much confidence.

Time was quickly running out.

"Hey!" he called again, hoping to get a response.

"Here! Help please!" It was a child's voice, a young girl if he'd heard correctly. But it gave him a concrete direction to move towards. Climbing over whatever it was, he made his way into another room. Michael could see slightly in this section. It looked like it was a back office, brick wall on two sides, drywall on the other two with a door that was no longer attached to the entrance of the office.

What the hell kind of explosion what this? C4? Scattered throughout the building to cause this kind of extensive damage?

"Help," the small voice came from behind what he assumed was a grand desk in its day. It had been tossed to the back of the room, angled up against the brick wall.

As Michael moved around the large piece of furniture, not only did the building let out a horrible groan, he spotted the girl, her leg and arm trapped under the edge of the desk. She was crumped against the wall, her free arm trying to pry the desk off. She was far too small and definitely at the wrong angle to budge the wood.

She spotted him, dark hair matted to her face, big eyes widening in hope. She was maybe 10 years old and there was no way in hell he was leaving her behind.

Kitt would have been proud of him – though he'd never believe that he took his time, checking the weight of the massive desk, checking angles, trajectories before he tried to move it, making sure he would not hurt the girl and ensuring the first shot would be the only shot he would need to free her.

"What's your name?" he asked, trying to distract her, and maybe comfort the both of them.

"Michaela," Michael couldn't help but smile as she spoke.

"Ironically, I'm Michael," he crouched down close to her and saw the small smile of amusement. "Can you feel your leg?" He half sagged in relief as she nodded yes. "Okay, I'm gonna lever it up slightly, see if you can pull your arm and leg out. I don't want to risk moving it too much." Again she nodded, this time looking at the desk she was trapped under. "Ready?" Another nod, more scared this time. "1, 2, 3, pull!" Sitting with his ass braced against the brick wall behind them, using his arms to help push, Michael had braced his legs against the lip of what once was the main section of the desk – where someone had once sat behind to conduct all means of business – and had obviously brought their daughter to work on what they assumed would be a partial day, eager to go home and prepare for family and festivities.

He grunted with the effort – it was one heavy desk, but he felt it move, heard her hiss of pain. She stood just as he was losing power. The desk slammed back against the wall, nearly missing her torso where she had clambered to her feet the second she was freed.

As he stood he noticed she was leaning heavily against the wall, her leg that had been trapped under the desk was at an odd angle. Broken at the shin obviously and now with blood flow returning she was in great pain.

He was going to have to carry her out. "Kitt?" he called again through the comlink only to receive the same static, only this time he caught a hint of Kitt's voice. Still not enough to be guided out.

The building groaned again and his instincts kicked in, grabbing Michaela he ducked them both under the desk as the ceiling heaved and caved.

He was in deep shit now. Not waiting for the dust to settle he picked the girl up, ignoring her squeak of pain. He had to get them out NOW.

"Over here!" It wasn't a voice he recognized, but it was a direction to follow.

"We're back here!" Michael stepped over more debris as he made his way out of the room. There was no way to prevent jostling the girl in his arms. She was light as a feather to him, but the footing was uneven and shifted under his feet.

"I see you two, come towards your left. That's it, now straight forward. You watch your feet and I'll direct you."

Michael still couldn't see who was speaking to him and frankly he didn't care. The dust was thicker and now he could smell smoke – the toxic kind – not thick enough to choke him, but enough of a warning of things brewing inside the building.

"Keep coming, you're doing fine." Michaela had managed to steady herself with an arm around his neck, which gave him more freedom to steady them with his elbow against walls and fallen joists.

Michael could hear Kitt now calling out to the crews as he scanned the buildings.

"They're coming out," Kitt called as Michael rounded a corner, the gaping front of the building now in clear view.

In the moments that preceded, Michael did not get a clear look at the fireman that took Michaela from his arms and carried her over to the ambulance across the way, he barely noticed the paramedic who looked him over as he sat on the now completely filthy, warm, black hood of the Trans Am.

"Bonnie is going to kill us," Kitt deadpanned. Michael snorted, yeah, she was.

Eyeing his surroundings, Michael managed to see Michaela's mother with her at the ambulance. They had splinted her leg and was working on her arm before they transported her.

"Key, Kitt, where is the fireman who guided me out? I wanna thank him." Michael looked around at the carnage, at the people and rescue crews milling about in the aftermath.

With a confused tone, Kitt responded, "Michael, I detected no one else in the building beside you and Michaela."

"What…?" Now totally confused, Michael turned towards the windscreen. "There was a guy in there, not too far from where we were inside. I couldn't reach you, but this guy directed me through the building."

"Michael, I can assure you, there was no one else inside the building. The exposed power lines caused the static in your comlink reception. Beyond that I was able to scan you and Michaela and the collapsing ceiling." There was no mistaking the concern in Kitt's voice this time.

"Are you sure?" Michael was looking back towards the still crumbling front face of the bank.

"Of course I'm sure." Ahh, the haughty tone, some days Michael got a kick out of the prissy attitude of his now partner. No, he wouldn't change this for the world.

But could it really be? Michael mused to himself. Why not – he was currently sitting on one miracle, and now, at this time of year, why couldn't there be another…..?

"I've also managed to find a way to complete your task. If you wish, you'll no longer need to visit a branch to conduct the transfers."

But they had been here, and that happenstance probably saved Michaela's life.

And showed him another reason to believe – though Kitt would think him a total mental case if he voiced his thoughts.

"Michael," Kitt called just as the comm chimed inside the car. "Bonnie is calling."

"Time to face the music, do you think you can talk to her?"

"I am not covering for you this time," came the quick response.

"How can it be covering? I was just stopping at the bank…. Though to be honest, with you here, most of the crews will make it home for dinner tonight."

"Us, Michael, Us." Kitt gently corrected as Michael opened the door and crouched down, not wanting to sit in the clean car until he brushed himself off.

Fin 12/29/2014


End file.
